A Bright Pink Cock

by June on April 1, 2015

As some of you will know, I live with a feisty cock who causes me no end of trouble. I have tried a number of approaches to keeping him at bay, including whacking him (judiciously) over the head, but nothing seems to work.

I had almost forgotten about him over the winter months as we kept the flock indoors, away from the fierce cold and snow. Under no circumstances would I be going into such closed quarters with him, so Arūnas had been taking care of them. However, now that the days are warming up and getting longer we have returned them to their outdoor run and given them free range of the garden each afternoon, once egg-laying is complete.

Oh my GOODNESS, he’s pink – I can’t bear to look at him!

Since Arūnas has been away for the past week bringing our camper van back to Ireland, the onus has fallen back to me to deliver fresh water and feed to the chickens each morning. Whenever I am in the run I am constantly on guard, a whacker always within easy reach. I can see the menacing eye of the cock sizing me up, waiting for any sign of distraction so he can make his charge. And he has charged a number of times. And I’ve decided I’ve had enough.

We had more or less decided that he was more trouble than he was worth and that he was destined for the cook pot. Various distractions impeded his dispatch and, as it’s not a job I relish doing on my own, I decided to take a different approach while Arūnas was away.

Perhaps if I stand on one leg they’ll think I’m a flamingo.

Inspired by this story, I decided to dye him pink. There would be two key benefits, I reckoned. Firstly, the girly colour might bring him down a peg or two. Secondly, it would give me no end of joy to point him out to our friends and neighbours.

As luck would have it, I had prepared a large batch of beetroot liquid to colour eggs for Easter. Beetroot juice is notorious for its staining ability, so I reckoned a quick dip in the stuff would transform cocky-pants in an instant.

Hey, you! Are you responsible for this pyjama suit?

I’m not sure I got the shade I was after, but I’m quite pleased with the results. He does seem a little indignant and the girls are mostly ignoring him. His demeanour has improved considerably in just a few days. If the improvement continues, I might just keep him pink going forward. Considering his alternatives, I think he’s faired quite well.

What do you reckon, folks – good solution?

This has been a Tongue-in-Cheek post for April 1st (April Fool’s Day)! No cocks were harmed, or dyed, in the making of this post!

Hi June, I live in beautiful Barbados and I thought that only our folks had to deal with such bossy and aggressive cocks but clearly we are not alone!!! I’m just loving the fun as it is so very hilarious. ( I also watch your episode on your house hunters International a few days ago and I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially the reveal you guys remind me so much of my husband and I and our house building gardening). Keep it up!!!!!

How did you get close enough to him to dye him pink? Did you submerge him in a bucket or chase him around with a spray bottle? Either way he looks great and maybe his attitude adjustment will last until his dispatch.

Oh, I’m nearly afraid to say it now, but it was an April Fool’s joke! I did it with photoshop – the cock is still his original white colour. I had included a note at the bottom of the post but I think it was a bit cryptic and a few people missed it. I must go back and change it now so it’s absolutely clear. Unfortunately there hasn’t been any improvement in his demeanour lately. This evening he was segregated from the rest of the flock and he’s due for dispatch tomorrow. I’m not looking forward to it but he’s just too much of a liability to keep him around. Perhaps I should have tried the pink thing – it might have worked!

Just a word of caution on the ‘cook pot option’…we had such a cock many many years ago and a very handsome crimson fellow he was too…he used to tell the chicks that his father was a ‘pea’cock!! Anyway, following a number of one sided bouts with our elderly Collie my mother decided to call in a neighbour who happened to be from ‘the country’ and therefore more likely to be familiar with this dirty deed. I, who had witnessed only seven previous summers, was detailed to hold the poor cock’s legs, my mother held his wings while ‘the country woman’ got to work with a serrated bread-knife. As you can gather from my crystal clear tortured recollection of that terrible event that it has been chiseled into my memory forever…I think I need to talk to someone!

Brilliant solution! We had a pink cat once … my little brother took some bright red door paint and daubed him then claiming he had measles like the rabbits in his favourite story at the time. Mother panicked, grabbed the cat (predominantly white with tortie patches) and bunged him in the sink with suds. She succeeded in getting a soaking wet pink moggy. It took months to fade and our next-door neighbour who was very fond of a sly glass of gin in the afternoon was informed by mother that she should be less copious with the booze since she was clearly seeing things 😀

Sad to say but his place should be in the cook pot, pink or not. That’s what used to happen to our roosters who behaved like this beauty, grandmas did not put up with such nonsense and next day we would have a great dinner.

I agree, Rima. He will be cooked very soon. I can’t go outside while he’s loose and now that the weather is getting nicer that’s becoming a problem. He has attacked me twice in the last two weeks alone. Arunas was away for a week and I didn’t want to process him on my own as I’ve never done it before. I don’t expect him to be around much longer, though. 🙂

Haha! I love it! I am still at odds with my bossy cock too! But he is so darn handsome I can’t help but love him. Plus, one rooster I had given away now may also be coming back. The people who took him live in a neighborhood and the rooster is not only terrorizing his new owners but the entire neighborhood! Ahh, life is good with chickens!

Yeh, I think I’ve been slightly unlucky that my cock is not the handsomest cock on the block. Lots of our neighbours have cocks with such beautiful colouring. I’m not sure the white (or pink!) works well. And I totally agree that life is good with chickens!

In my efforts to try to get some good advise for you on how to deal with the situation i decided to turn to the trusty Google and entered the search question…”How to tame a pink angry Cock?”…you don’t want to see the responses!!! 🙂

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Photos – Wild Lithuania

About Me

Hi, I'm June. I live in the Lithuanian countryside with my wonderful husband, Arūnas. I like to grow vegetables and go for long walks with the dog, but mostly I like food - thinking about it, talking about it, travelling in search of it and, of course, eating it. I try to cook everything from scratch using local ingredients. Please have a look around - welcome to My Food Odyssey.

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